‘Why don’t you come and have a go?’ Jay Slater’s fuming dad hits back at trolls criticising family as he joins search
MISSING teen Jay Slater’s furious dad has hit back at trolls criticising his family as he joined the desperate hunt for his son.
Warren Slater urged sleuths to imagine the heartache he was feeling and said they should come and “see for themselves” how difficult the search is.
The distressed father and his son Zak today joined police and members of the public to scour the mountainside near the village of Masca where Jay vanished on June 17.
Distraught Warren spoke briefly after arriving at the meeting point in a rental car at around 3.15pm this afternoon.
Wearing a black North Face t-shirt, shorts and sun-glasses, the emotional dad expressed his disappointment at the turnout of volunteers.
He said: “It’s a bit disappointing that there are no British apart from Paul but I suppose to them he’s just a British lad who’s come out here and got drunk.
“I’m grateful to those who have come out here because you can see just how dangerous it is. What gets me is the trollers who are having a go at us for not searching.”
Warren emphasised how “dangerous” the terrain is, adding it’s “not the local park”.
He added that he and his loved ones are “leaving it to the professionals”.
He thanked everyone who turned up to the search and added: “We just still can’t believe it; it’s been so tough on us, and I want people to think about us as parents and what we are going through.
“All those trollers having a go at us, they don’t know how we feel, why don’t they come up here and have a look and see for themselves how dangerous it is.”
He concluded: “I just didn’t think this would go on for so long, I dropped his mum and brother off at the airport and thought they would be back in a few days.
“I just thought he’s gone out had a drink and ended up at some girl’s place as we all did when we were younger, he’s our youngest I just want him home.”
The Slater family have vowed to stay in Tenerife “however long it takes” to locate Jay and have “no intention of going home”.
A family source told The Sun Online: “Dipping into the funds isn’t something the family have done lightly – but they’ve been left with no choice.
“They are determined to remain in Tenerife for however long it takes to get to the bottom of what has happened to Jay.
The source added: “The family are bereft right now – but for his mother and father especially, being in Tenerife means they are on the ground for as soon as any news comes in.
“They are also desperate to keep momentum going around the search. Their biggest fear is that fly home and the search begins to wind down. Every second counts in finding Jay.”
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
BY Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “nothing untoward there”
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire cops offer to help with the search but Tenerife authorities say they are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”
Search turns to 22,000ft ravine in Masca – part of an area dubbed “the badlands” by locals
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins with sniffer dogs, cops, mountain rescue and firefighters again taking to the hills in northern Tenerife
Possible new sighting of Jay places him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although unconfirmed by police
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Cops focus their search around small outbuildings in de Teno park near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
The GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy surpasses £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay appearing to fall and stumble back up at a rave before he vanished
MONDAY 24
Search for Jay enters eighth day
Police expand search area north to parts of Buenavista del Norte
Jay’s dad says his family are in ‘a living hell’
TUESDAY 25
Brit hiker found by Jay search teams says he ‘didn’t need to be saved’
Madeleine McCann cop lands in Tenerife to join search
Tenerife cops call in reinforcements from Madrid – including specialist sniffer dogs
Jay vanished on Monday last week while on holiday with two friends for the 2024 Tenerife NRG festival.
On Sunday night he had gone to a rave with those two friends, Lucy and Brad, but left with two new people he’d just met.
Police had earlier called the mystery men “key witnesses” in the case but have today given a major update and have said they are “not relevant” to the 19-year-old’s disappearance.
After going back to his accommodation near Masca village, Jay missed the bus home on Monday morning and was faced with a 10-hour walk.
He made a panicked phone call to Lucy Law to tell her he was lost in the middle of nowhere, his phone was about to die and he needed water.
That was the last anyone had heard of him and at around 9am a missing persons report was filed.
It comes as new witnesses are set to be quizzed after the alleged theft of a Rolex hours before the teen vanished.
A “massive” new search kicked off today with the help of specialist volunteers amid a “make or break” final push to find Jay.